Tiger's Den: The Restoration
by SharkAria
Summary: Enishi/Kaoru, modern day with some throwbacks to the Meiji Era. Kaoru harbors a hopeless love for her married boss Kenshin, and her shared visions with Enishi won't leave her alone. Semi-sequel to "Tiger's Den," but with a different sort of ending. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Kaoru harbors a hopeless love for her married boss Kenshin, and her shared visions with Enishi won't leave her alone. Semi-sequel to "Tiger's Den," though you probably don't have to read it to understand what's happening. Enishi/Kaoru, modern day with some throwbacks to the Meiji Era.

A/N: I wrote something along these lines a long time ago but it was too complicated. Here it is again, all stripped down and polished up. Also, I increased the weirdness/creep factor.

* * *

 _A red-lipped woman wraps a man's broken fingers. Calloused hands grip a wooden sword. Violet eyes blink calmly in a blurred face._

"Stop it," Kaoru growls aloud to herself. It's bad enough when these not-memories flood her mind back home in Tokyo. It's intolerable that the images have followed her all the way to Xinyue Island when she's supposed to be working.

The elevator door opens. _A bandaged demon bursts into flames._ "Oh, come on, that one doesn't even make sense," she grumbles as she steps into the cramped, dark hallway.

"Seriously? It's only one floor." The two-meter tall, silver-haired speaker admittedly knows how to wear a suit to his advantage.

"Enishi," Kaoru replies flatly. "The stairs were, uh - too crowded."

"Crowded" wasn't exactly the right word. Only one person had been standing at the foot of the grand staircase. Tomoe, ethereal elfin princess with rivers of black hair and skin of glacier ice and skirts sewn from fairy dust, had been gazing, dreamlike, into her drink, waiting for her husband Kenshin to show up to the reception.

And instead of greeting Tomoe like a normal person would, Kaoru had ducked into the elevator alcove and jabbed the call button like a maniac until the door opened and she could escape.

"Liar," Enishi pronounces crisply. He's lived in Tokyo for years, but the Shanghai accent still rolls off his tongue. He looks down at Kaoru's cheap blue work-to-cocktail dress and raises an eyebrow above those fussy spectacles of his.

 _The_ shoji _screen slides shut on a boy's complaints about chores._ Kaoru winces.

"Oh. Again?" Enishi asks, his voice softening. His Oxfords squeak on the floor as he steps closer.

Kaoru nods. _A girl's shrill cheer pierces the thick jungle foliage_. "All kinds of stuff. Faces and sounds; weird scents. It's been constant since my boss and I arrived yesterday." She tries not to think about the tender smile Kenshin gave Tomoe as they disembarked from the transport ferry. "You?"

"Same. Fights, mostly. Pain from impossible injuries." He tugs at his ear as he glances over his shoulder. "And of course, the woman."

She presses her lips into a flat line; she's heard all about the bloody woman in the snow that haunts Enishi's mind day and night. She gazes past Enishi to the main landing where dignitaries and mediators are toasting the deals they made during the day's summit. "Come on, let's get a drink. We both have clients who expect us to show our faces tonight." She sticks her clutch under her armpit and jerks her head toward the crowd. "And we both know that the visions don't go away if we ignore them."

"Wait." Enishi looks around again, as if making sure that no one is watching them. "Just a quick -" he leans down as he does sometimes, so fast that Kaoru doesn't have time to react, and presses his nose to her neck. His breath is hot on her skin as he dips his head lower and grazes his teeth against her collarbone. "Better," he whispers in her ear, then whips away and turns on his heel. Without so much as a goodbye, he stalks into the party and strikes up a conversation with the CEO of Kanryuu Industries.

"Bastard," Kaoru curses. At the very least, Enishi could have let her brush her face against his wrist, inhale his scent - anything for a moment's respite from her mind's illusions. _"Aku. Soku. Zan," rasps a man with a voice of gravel._

Kaoru shakes her head, composes herself, and steps out onto the grandiose landing. The second floor chandeliers have been wired for electricity, but otherwise the neocolonial Smuggler's House has been restored according to strict historical standards to preserve it for future generations - and, of course, to generate tourism dollars in the future.

Sidestepping Xinyue's loud, red-faced Minister of Forestry, Kaoru strides across the polished wood floorboards and through wide French doors, into the warm night air and onto the balcony.

Kenshin is exactly where he said he'd meet her. The man that she will love forever, the man she will never have for herself, stands at the balustrade, his red-brown hair tied back neatly and his shirtsleeves rolled at his elbows. He turns around as if he senses her presence, and he gives her a smile that makes her stomach flip and her heart sink.

And beside him, of course, _of course,_ is Tomoe.

"Hello, you t-two," Kaoru stutters as she approaches the couple, wishing she'd grabbed a drink before facing Kenshin's wife. _A saké jug sails across a room and crashes against a wall._

"Kaoru, I was just telling Tomoe about your success at the negotiating table today." Kenshin caresses Tomoe's shoulder and Kaoru cringes.

Tomoe meets Kaoru's eyes. _Cherry blossom petals float in the spring breeze._ "Yes," Tomoe says quietly. "Kenshin says that you held firm with the Dao ward representatives. That they agreed to improve conditions in the poor neighborhoods across the bay."

"Uh, yeah," Kaoru mumbles, fiddling with her clutch. "No one else was speaking up for the people who live there, and that's who works at all of our clients' properties, so . . ." she trails off.

Kenshin breaks into a beatific close-lipped smile with the corners of his mouth upturned, but Tomoe's face remains placid. "It's important to fight for those without a voice," she declares as she shifts her gaze to beach below the bluff.

"Just so," Kenshin agrees. He continues to relate to Tomoe more of the day's accomplishments in his warmest, most calming voice.

Kaoru can hardly stand listening to Kenshin sing her praises while he beholds his wife so lovingly, but she can't come up with an excuse to leave the conversation. Her eyes wander across the crowd. A petite Japanese developer who wants to buy more beachside properties makes her case to a balding, sweaty attorney for the Society for Historic Preservation. A white-coated waiter attempts to retrieve empty champagne flutes from one of the tables without being elbowed by the drunk, gesticulating Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Enishi leans against the wall, clearly bored, as a woman with a severe haircut seems to be trying to argue or flirt with him, or both. _Swords clang together under the hot midday sun._

Enishi catches Kaoru looking at him, and he blows his spiky silver hair out of his face and smirks. Kaoru rolls her eyes and glances away. He left her wanting earlier; now it's his turn to wait.

"Please forgive me, I -" Tomoe stammers, interrupting her husband and recapturing Kaoru's attention. Kenshin's wife is staring strangely in Enishi's direction, and her face has, if possible, grown even paler. Her brows furrowed, she looks back at Kaoru with clear pain in her eyes. "I'm not feeling well. Perhaps the alcohol. Kenshin -"

"Of course." Kenshin takes Tomoe by the elbow and gives Kaoru an apologetic but cursory nod. "Please excuse us, Kaoru. I'll see you at the resources meeting tomorrow morning." He guides his wife through the party to the nearest exit. _Fireflies flit across an earthen path. A figure disappears into the springtime darkness._

Kaoru closes her eyes and rolls her shoulders. _What a mess,_ she thinks. It would be easier if she could hate Tomoe, but the woman has never been anything but gracious toward her, if a little shy. _Two ladies look down at their somber reflections in the surface of a clear pond._

The city on the other side of the bay sparkles in the distance. Kaoru knows that she's actually looking at slummy housing blocks with stolen electricity, but in the darkness their glow is beautiful. Out on the water, green and red lights flash from the bows of motor boats skimming the surface. Perhaps some of the skiffs are smuggling contraband out to pirates beyond the strait.

"Was that your boss?" Enishi asks as he sidles up beside her. "The one you're in love with?"

 _Friends laugh as they cross a bridge at sunset._ "His wife too."

"Ah. Didn't get a good look at her." Enishi hands Kaoru his drink and their fingertips touch; Kaoru downs what turns out to be half a vodka soda in a single gulp.

She sets the glass on the rail and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, which she would never in a million years do if Kenshin were watching. "This place creeps me out. I'm getting even more visions here than down by the river in Tokyo."

"Me too," Enishi agrees. "Not quite as bad as when I'm in Kyoto, though." He pushes his spectacles up the bridge of his narrow nose and tilts his head toward the door. "But either way I'm done with this. Coming?"

Wordlessly, Kaoru follows him off the balcony, down the stairs, and into the yard. Together they cross several lanes of the ring road and reach a long, leafy pedestrian path that leads to the beachside resorts.

They reach a part of the path where the tree canopy arches overhead, blocking the moonlight. Enishi takes Kaoru's hand, and she sighs. "You're at the Dao Suites, right?" he asks, his fingers intertwining with hers.

"You're staying there too. Tonight anyway," she replies, and before she even finishes her sentence Enishi pulls her against him and leans down and presses his nose on that sensitive spot behind her ear and inhales.

Kaoru leans away so that she can put her forehead against Enishi's, so that she can breathe in his breath. _A shot rings out and a man slumps over in the sand._ She pulls back. "That's nowhere near enough. Come on."

They stumble along the remainder of the path and through the hotel's back entrance. Kaoru's heels click on the tile floor as they hustle to the elevator bank and take one to her floor. She leads Enishi to her room, unlocks the door with the card from her clutch, and practically shoves him inside. _A smoke bomb explodes in the yard of an old dojo._ "Hurry," she urges as she drops her purse on the floor and reaches for his shirt collar.

Enishi bats her hands away. "Stop. I can do this faster than you." He sheds his blazer and fumbles with his belt in the near darkness. "You work on yourself. I always get the zipper stuck."

"Right," Kaoru says, kicking off her shoes. She divests herself of her dress and flops onto the bed at the same time that Enishi, nude but for his underwear, slams his glasses on the bedside table and joins her.

He grabs her around the waist and presses his flat stomach to hers, tangles their legs. She wraps her arms around his neck and nips at the apple of his throat.

"Good," he groans as his hips jut forward against Kaoru's panties. _A shadow with a crescent smile appears in the haze._

"Still not enough for me." She pushes him against the mattress and rubs her face against his chest, then flips herself on top of him so that her shoulders and back and bare thighs are pressed to his body. "I'm still seeing - _oh,_ " she breaks off as one of Enishi's hands slides up her rib cage while the other wraps around her neck.

It's working, finally.

Enishi grinds up against her bottom. "Still seeing things?" he rasps in her ear and brushes his lips against her cheek. He hooks his thumb into her mouth and she bites down lightly.

"Just stars," she replies as she wiggles her hips. She rolls over again and straddles him, and as he gasps in a way she's never heard from him before, she grins in the dark. She feels even more desperate than usual tonight, and as he fusses with her bra clasps she whispers to him, "We could go further this time."

His hand freezes, and his muscles tighten beneath her.

She holds her breath. _Plum blossom fragrance wafts through the smoke. "Follow the scent," a cruel voice calls._

"Nevermind. We don't have to. I just thought - you know, maybe more would help," she backpedals carefully. "It's so bad tonight," she adds plaintively.

Enishi's hands slip down her back and stop at her thighs. He hitches her up so that her face is directly above his. His eyes shine in the moonlight that streams through the window, and the muscles at his temples pulse as he clenches his teeth. "No, it's too risky - let's stick with what we _know_ will work," he murmurs, and Kaoru suspects that he's afraid of unleashing something worse if they deviate from their long-established routine.

Again, Kaoru gently bumps her forehead to his. "Alright." She reaches back and unhooks her bra and sits up, and she can't help but smile as Enishi's jaw goes slack. "Let's do the usual, then," she says, and she slips her hand into her panties.

"Right," he growls, relief threading his voice. Roughly, he takes her free arm and pulls her back down to the bed. "You looked sexy up there but I can't touch myself if you're on top of me."

"Whatever you say," Kaoru slurs. She's already pretty close, and she hardly even notices as Enishi looms over her with his own hand down his boxer briefs.

"Damn," Enishi chokes out, watching Kaoru as she bites her lip and arches her back.

As Kaoru's orgasm washes over her, she hears Enishi take a gulp of air and collapse on the bed beside her.

Her mind clear for the first time in days, Kaoru drifts off to sleep.

"Why does that always help?" Kaoru mumbles against Enishi's chest the next morning. Her visions haven't returned, not in her dreams, not even with a flash of color or an unexpected voice.

"I don't know," Enishi says around a yawn. "Glad it does, though."

Kaoru sits up and glances out the window. The first rays of sun crest the bluff beyond the bay. "So you're better now?"

"Yeah. Nothing since -" he grins and places a hand high up on her thigh. As he looks up into her face, his smile fades.

She suspects that he is thinking about her suggestion the previous night. "Don't worry about what I said earlier," she tells him. "We don't need to mess around with what works, even if it's a little weird." Rubbing up against a colleague to keep from losing one's mind probably qualifies as more than a _little_ weird, but Kaoru doesn't mention that.

Enishi grimaces. "It was bad that time we resisted."

Kaoru nods grimly. She remembers telling Enishi once that their secret routine was too creepy to continue, then kicking him out of her apartment. She remembers the visions washing over her like a tsunami, remembers locking herself in her bedroom and screaming herself hoarse into her pillow. She remembers Enishi finally dragging himself back to her place, high on pills and covered in bruises. "I remember. But at least those are _real_ memories," she mutters petulantly.

"Not ones I wish to relive." Enishi shrugs and stretches, showing off his long lean arms. "Anyway. Is your company invited to the beach thing tonight?"

"The tourism campaign kick-off at sunset? We'll all be there." Kaoru's stomach sours as she thinks of of Tomoe's pale face. It would have been easier if Kenshin hadn't brought his wife on the trip. Kaoru would never try to steal Kenshin away, but at least she could enjoy his low voice and warm eyes without the gut-churning guilt.

"Good." Enishi reaches up and tucks a lock of hair behind Kaoru's ear. The way he's looking at her makes her blush. "But I've been thinking. Perhaps just a kiss wouldn't hurt anything."

Kaoru swallows and looks down at Enishi's mouth. Whatever she and Enishi are doing isn't about love, or dating, or even desire, really. It's only about beating back the hallucinations, right? "A kiss? We've never done that before. Didn't you say over and over that you're worried any change might - you know - "

"Yeah, I know. Might make the visions worse." He pulls himself up so that his face is inches from hers. "Maybe it's worth the risk. What do you think?"

 _I think I want Kenshin_ , Kaoru reminds herself, but for the first time she thinks that may no longer be entirely true.

"So?" He asks, his breath warm against her skin.

Kaoru closes her eyes and leans forward until her lips meet his. Her mind remains blissfully blank. "Not so bad," she whispers.

* * *

[to be continued]

A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the coming weirdness! With these rarepairs/quiet fandoms, your comments mean even more than usual!


	2. Chapter 2

REBOOT Tiger's Den: The Restoration Ch 2

A/N: The second chapter of a story from my heart.

To the five or so remaining E/K fans I have the pleasure to write for: There aren't many of us left, but we're a scrappy group! Thank you for reading and supporting this experimental fic. Reminder that this fic includes mature relationship situations and the occasional swear word.

* * *

 _Cupid's arrow. A thunderbolt. Love at first sight._ That's how it was for Kaoru when she met Kenshin, and how it has been every day since. Whatever she did with Enishi never affected her feelings before.

 _But oh, that damned kiss,_ Kaoru thinks over and over, through the morning meetings and lunchtime discussions and afternoon slide decks, through this interminable presentation in a Dao Suites conference room. She hasn't had a single vision since last night, but she's not sure that this sudden obsession is much better.

"Your assistance was invaluable today," Kenshin murmurs from across the aircraft carrier-sized tabletop.

Kaoru snaps out of her daydream to notice that the other meeting participants have left. "Thanks," she mumbles as she looks into Kenshin's warm face and, for the first time, can think of nothing but Enishi. Why did that stupid kiss change so much? "Sorry, I'm a little distracted."

"It's been a long day," Kenshin replies softly. He stands and pushes his chair in, then loosens the knot of his maroon tie. "Shall we get something to eat? Tomoe and I had planned to go downtown to scout wholesalers for her shop inventory, but she still isn't feeling well."

Kaoru hardly listens to Kenshin as she brushes her fingers against her lips. _Perhaps just a kiss,_ Enishi's voice echoes in her mind. "Another time," she hears herself say. "I want to rest before the event."

"Of course. I'll see you tonight at the beach." His eyes crinkle, and he gives Kaoru one of those once heart-thump-inducing smiles as he exits the room.

Slumping in her seat, Kaoru stretches her legs straight out. Her suit skirt rides up immodestly and she doesn't care, now that she's alone. She crosses and uncrosses her ankles and gazes out the window at the sun-dappled jungle foliage.

She should feel relieved that she sees only trees. But her stomach flips, and all she can think about is the taste of Enishi's mouth.

* * *

The invitation in Kaoru's summit packet has billed the evening's event as "The Sunset Spectacular Campaign Kick-Off that No International Businessperson or Government Official Should Miss!"

Extra punctuation aside, Kaoru can see that Xinyue's Minister of Tourism didn't exaggerate. Paraffin torches and tropical flower arrangements line the sandstone path down to the beach. An up-and-coming Singaporean band plays on a neon-lit stage at the surfline. A triptych of whiskey, saké, and cigar bars flank a buffet offering what looks like every fish dish in the South Pacific. Brightly garbed jugglers, magicians, and tumblers weave through the crowd, performing their tricks up close to delighted audiences. Glowing paper lanterns float on invisible wires high above the sand. Out in the bay floats an enormous raft laden with unlit fireworks. And the sunset is, as advertised, spectacular, although that is more from luck than from any planning on the part of the Minister.

Kaoru glances down at her long loose floral dress and hopes she doesn't look too casual. She never knows what to wear to these things.

"Miss Kamiya," a voice calls from behind Kaoru. Yumi Komagata waves to her and nearly knocks over a giant ice sculpture of a dragon in the process. The labor attorney usually wears expensive business suits and purple-black lipstick, but tonight the woman is clad in a gauzy teal shift and a statement necklace.

Yumi stands next to Enishi.

"Yukishiro, Miss Kamiya is the negotiator I was telling you about," Yumi tells Enishi. "She made sure that our clients were protected in the union merger."

Enishi smirks at Kaoru and pushes his spectacles up his nose. "Is that so."

"Your counterparts in China would benefit from her expertise," Yumi says. She glances between the two consultants and her penciled brow arches up, wrinkling her dewy forehead. "Have you met before?"

"We bump into each other every so often," Enishi says as Kaoru glares at him.

Yumi nods with a sideways smile, and it's not difficult for Kaoru to guess what the attorney must be thinking. "Well, I'll leave you two to talk. Ciao!" Yumi pecks Enishi's cheek and pats Kaoru's wrist and disappears into the crowd.

"'Counterparts?'" Kaoru mutters. "That's an awful fancy word for 'gangsters.'"

Enishi puts his hands into the pockets of his white linen suit, which appears almost orange in the light of the setting sun. "Heishin prefers to call his underlings 'the muscle.' Besides, you're the one who just got a glowing recommendation from a senior partner of the Juppongatana Law Group. That firm is famous for its 'creative' legal strategies." His tone is mocking, but his eyes are hungry.

"They aren't all bad," Kaoru argues. She notices a mark on Enishi's throat from her teeth. Her face flushes as she asks, "Your head clear?"

Enishi rubs the back of his neck as he answers. "Nothing to report, for once. No fights. No injuries. No dying women bleeding in the snow." He takes a step closer to her. "You?"

"Not a thing. I'm crystal clear," Kaoru answers, and she bites her bottom lip. _Except for you_. She waits for him to take her hand, or bend down and inhale against her neck, or scratch his fingernails along the small of her back.

Instead, he looks over the top of her head toward the row of hotels along the beach. Kaoru follows his gaze and notices the last rays of the sun lighting up the suite windows like squares of fire.

"Guess that means we don't need each other tonight," Enishi finally says, his voice so quiet that Kaoru must lean in to hear his words over the music. "Maybe we fixed this thing after all this time."

"That's - I guess that might be true," she hedges, nonplussed by his response.

He adjusts his spectacles again and runs a hand through his spiky hair. "Then we're good. Text me if something changes . . ." he trails off and begins to turn away from her.

 _No!_ Kaoru thinks, and she grabs his arm. "Wait, Enishi."

Enishi looks down at her hand on his sleeve, his brows knit together.

Kaoru cringes as she realizes suddenly and forcefully exactly what she wants from him. "I'm glad we're both fine right now - better than fine, really. Before now I could hardly remember what it was like to spend a whole day without a single vision - but - " She sighs instead of finishing the thought and fiddles with his cuff link.

Enishi looks at her over the top of his glasses. "But what?" he coaxes.

So he is going to make her spit it out, the bastard. "Maybe later we could do something together. Just for fun."

A corner of his mouth twitches upward. "Not just to tamp down the visions."

"Right. Just to have a good time with each other." Kaoru crosses her arms and looks down at her sandals, feeling oddly embarrassed considering that she and Enishi have been messing around for months.

"What about your boss?" Enishi asks, his voice flat.

Kaoru shuffles her feet as she sidesteps the question. "He's married to a very nice lady and he loves her very much." Even with her newfound interest in Enishi, the admission still hurts. "Besides, what you and I do together - even if we never have another vision, and I hope we don't -" she exhales and shifts her weight to her heels. "I still liked that kiss this morning. I think you did too. If you aren't worried that it will make things worse, I suppose we could, you know, do more later tonight."

Enishi presses his fingertips under her chin and he tilts her face up so that she must look at him. He presses his thumb against her bottom lip and stares at her mouth. His voice is sharp as a blade when he says, "I don't think it will make things worse. And I don't want to wait until later tonight."

First she remembers the way Enishi's thumb felt in her mouth the night before, and then she remembers that she is in public. She swats his hand away and glances at the nearby revelers to make sure no one noticed the intimate gesture. "Well, you have to wait whether you want to or not. I'm being paid to talk to these people. Surely you have similar _work_ duties."

Rolling his eyes, he grumbles, "Fine. One hour of _work_." Then he leans down and whispers in her ear, "After that, you're mine."

Kaoru glares up at him even as heat coils in her belly. She should tell him that he can't put a time limit on her work and leave him there to stew, but she can't bear to think of sleeping in her room alone tonight. "Bet I can collect more business cards than you."

"You definitely can't," Enishi replies. The expression on his face is downright feral.

"I definitely will," Kaoru says, the idea of a competition stoking her desire. "And when I win the bet, you have to -"

"Don't bother. You won't win," Enishi interrupts. He pulls his phone from his pocket and taps the screen. "One hour. I've got a timer going."

 _So arrogant,_ Kaoru thinks. Putting him in his place later will be so satisfying. She nods and turns away to scan the crowd. Tae Sekihara, a multinational restaurateur and personal friend, is headed in her direction. "I'm already winning," she calls over her shoulder, only to observe that Enishi has struck up a conversation with three attractive businesswomen at the whiskey tasting station.

As the sky darkens from orange to red to violet, Kaoru deploys her special combination of charm and aggression to make an astonishing number of connections. She moves easily between groups of summit attendees, even as she keeps an eye on Enishi's progress.

Enishi cheats, as usual. When Kaoru concludes a conversation with an NGO board member, he catches her eye and licks his lips in such a way that makes her stutter her goodbyes. As she makes a pitch to a group of developers, he passes behind her and "accidentally" brushes his fingers along her exposed shoulder blades, and she altogether forgets to ask for the group's business cards.

By the time she finds Enishi standing in a knot of government officials near the stage, she can't decide if she wants to push him into the bay or drag him into the bushes. "I thought you wanted to win fair and square, not by distracting me," she shouts over the song. She attempts to ignore how his cologne is affecting her ability to stand up straight.

"Never said that," he replies. The neon lights glitter on the lenses of his spectacles. "Let's call it now. I can't stop thinking about your -"

"Like hell I'm giving up," she growls as she stomps off toward the buffet line.

She makes it a dozen paces before she runs straight into Kenshin.

"Kaoru," Kenshin greets her. He adjusts the collar of his blue blazer and squeezes her shoulder lightly. "I've seen you running all over this event. You must be making excellent inroads for Sakabatou Relations."

"I'm certainly trying," Kaoru says with a forced smile. She glances behind her to see that Enishi has already slipped away and is now accepting a card from an airline executive. "Uh - how's Tomoe?"

"Something about this trip isn't agreeing with her, I'm afraid." Kenshin says sadly, his eyes on the band. "I'll be glad to get her home to Tokyo at the end of the week."

"Well, give her my best," Kaoru says, shifting her weight between her feet. She needs to get out of this conversation, fast, if she's going to beat Enishi. "I think I see one of the hotel investors at the saké station. Mind if I go introduce myself?"

"Please do." Kenshin gives her a dorky but nevertheless sweet thumbs up. "Thank you for being the face of the company tonight!"

"Happy to do it." She gives her boss a little salute and scuttles in the general direction of the booze.

Enishi catches up to her a few minutes later, just as she is accepting her last card from a Port Authority administrator. "Time's up," he announces, waving his phone in her face and ignoring the man with whom she is speaking. "Let's get out of here. My hotel's closer." He grabs her forearm and starts pulling her away from the party.

"Uh - sorry, my colleague is eager to - um - get to work on a presentation for tomorrow -" Kaoru sputters as Enishi hustles her away from the confused official.

Kaoru lets Enishi lead her partway up the torchlit path, but she brushes him off as a giggling couple staggers past them. "Stop. We're not doing anything until we see who won," she declares as she holds up a fistful of cards.

Enishi raises an eyebrow, but he stands up straight and retrieves his own stack from his breast pocket. "You're very bossy when you're about to lose," he taunts, handing the deck to her.

Kaoru ignores him as she counts his cards and scans their contents. "Wait a minute . . . these are all from women!"

Enishi shrugs. "I know what I look like."

Her face blooms with heat. "You're a jerk."

"That's irrelevant." He stretches an arm over his head and looks up into the purple-black sky. "I had other plans for that hour, but that was fun. I forgot what it was like to spend an evening without violent battles running through my mind."

"It's such a relief," Kaoru agrees as she watches the fireworks raft employees setting up for the grand finale. "Do you think the visions are going to come back?"

"Probably. But at least we found something that works to stop them for longer, for now." Resignation flows through his voice. "You're stalling. I must have won by a lot."

She returns his cards with a scowl. "Not by that much. Twenty-seven to my twenty-five."

"Told you." Enishi stuffs the stack back into his pocket and gives Kaoru a long appraising look. "This way."

Enishi keeps his hands to himself as long as they remain visible to the partygoers, but when they reach a dark part of the path, he pulls Kaoru close and bites her bare shoulder.

Kaoru sighs into his embrace, but then a taxi drives past on the ring road above them, and she pushes him away.

"Let's get to your room," she urges.

"That's what I've been saying all night." Enishi points to the high-rise just ahead. "That's me."

They walk past security and take an elevator and arrive in his room with little more contact than holding hands, although the looks that he gives her could burn a hole through her dress.

The suite is larger but less sumptuous than Kaoru's. A table lamp is turned on low and the bedsheets are turned down. Enishi's prescription med bottles are lined up on the window ledge, and Kaoru notes with more than a little jealousy that he lucked out with a beach view.

Kaoru turns around to find Enishi already stripping. He has kicked off his shoes and has tossed his jacket onto the dresser and is frantically unbuttoning his shirt.

"Wait," Kaoru says. "We always rush because - well, you know why. Let's do something different tonight." She swallows and takes a calming breath. "Something slower."

Enishi's mouth hangs open slightly, reminding Kaoru of a cruising shark. "I like that," he says, his voice a deep rasp. He places one hand lightly on her hip and studies her face. "I want to kiss you again."

"Please do," Kaoru whispers.

His lips are still on hers when he unties the halter knot at the base of her neck. She steps away and lets the top of her dress fall, then shimmies the rest of the way out of the garment. For once she wishes that her lingerie matched, but she owns only this one strapless bra, and in any case Enishi doesn't seem to be paying much attention to the still-clothed parts of her.

"Never had the chance to enjoy this before," he says.

"Enjoy what?" Kaoru grunts as she works open his belt buckle.

"This. The beginning."

Kaoru smiles as she starts on his shirt buttons. "Me neither." She plants kisses in a line down his chest and stomach as she pops each one open. He gasps when she sticks her tongue in his belly button.

He steps away and removes his glasses and shakes his trousers from his hips. Then he leans against the wall and starts taking off blue socks imprinted with tiny orange tigers.

Kaoru laughs before she can stop herself. "You have the weirdest fashion sense."

"Get rid of that bra, unless you want me to tear it off you," he threatens in response, but despite his harsh tone there is an unfamiliar delight in his eyes.

"Don't you dare. These things are expensive," Kaoru says as she releases the hooks. She shivers even though the room is warm.

Enishi returns to her and winds her long ponytail around his fist and tilts her head to kiss her again, and this time his tongue slips past her teeth. When he finally breaks away, he declares, "I'm taking off your panties. Not you."

"Yeah, OK, I guess," Kaoru says. "Why do you care who - oh -"

Enishi kneels before her and hooks his thumbs into the lace at her waist. He scrapes her hipbone with his teeth and inhales as he removes her last undergarment, and now it's Kaoru's turn to gasp. Then he picks her up and dumps her on the bed.

"Hey!" Kaoru squeals, scrambling up to a more dignified position.

"Don't move."

She complies with a pout.

His eyes are open and his smile is so wide he appears almost unstable. He lurches forward and covers her body with his and nips at her earlobe.

She wraps her arms around his bare back and moves her hands down to his narrow waist.

"It's time to claim my prize," he tells her.

"Oh yeah?" Kaoru mumbles against his cheek. Between the fog of arousal and the calm of her mind, she had nearly forgotten about their bet. "What exactly do you want?"

To Kaoru's surprise, Enishi moves back and rests on his elbows. His eyes are narrowed as he asks, "You sure you're not still hung up on your boss?"

 _He wants to discuss this right now?_ Kaoru thinks. But after all that she and Enishi have done together, and for one another, she can't lie. "I'll always care deeply for Kenshin," she admits. "But something about being here on this island - being with you, finally feeling like maybe I'm not going to lose my mind - I guess I haven't felt that longing for romance with Kenshin the way I used to."

Enishi rolls onto his side, taking Kaoru with him. He brushes her bangs away from her forehead. "Good."

They kiss for a while, and Kaoru pays close attention to the scratch of Enishi's stubble against her chin, the heat of his breath against her face, the feel of his hands on her body. Everything is blissfully better than their many previous nights sharing a bed.

"So you're really ready to do more than we've done before?" she asks.

"I'm ready to do everything with you." He slips his hand between her thighs. "And I want to touch you here first."

Kaoru doesn't argue. Not the first time or the second, anyway, but by the third time she is so oversensitive that she clamps her legs together and shoves Enishi's hand away and wheezes, "Stop, stop. I need a break."

Enishi wears a cat-caught-the-mouse grin across his face.

"My turn," she says once she's finally caught her breath. She gently pushes him onto his back and slips her fingertips beneath the elastic of his boxer briefs and he helps her pull them off, and then she slides her hand down until she's touching him.

His smug smile fades into rigid concentration. "You're good at this," Enishi groans. "Been practicing with somebody else?"

"When would I have had time to do that?" she huffs, and she tugs him a little harder than is strictly necessary. As he flinches, she says, "I've watched you do it a lot."

"That's true." He bucks his hips, and she knows he must be getting close. "Clearly you've been paying attention."

"Are you going to talk this much the next time we do this?"

"This is going to be a regular thing?" he asks between gulps of air.

"Not if you don't shut up," she tells him, and then his face crumples and he spills himself out all over his flat stomach, and Kaoru smiles in satisfaction.

"That doesn't mean we're done yet," Enishi says, still panting.

"Good," Kaoru says. She's seen Enishi come a hundred times, nearly always right before she collapses into a dreamless sleep. But now, with this wonderfully clear mind, she wants to stay up all night with him. "It's still early. They haven't even lit off the fireworks yet." She reaches over and ruffles his already messy hair.

He smiles with his eyes closed, but as she leans over to give him another kiss, his expression twists into a sneer. "Oh. Oh, shit." He rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"What's wrong?" Kaoru cries. She places her palm against his forehead. "Are you seeing something again -?"

"No, not that." He waves her away. "I don't have any condoms. You're not on birth control, are you?"

"Of course not!" Kaoru blurts out. "Why didn't you bring any?!"

Enishi looks up at the ceiling, obviously exasperated. "Why would I bring condoms on this trip? I knew you'd be here. We never -"

"Nevermind." Kaoru flops away from him and scoots up against the pillows, her frustration overflowing. "Maybe we just won't-"

"Don't finish that sentence," he warns. His face is stony as he continues, "If there were ever a right time for this, it's now."

"Don't call the concierge. They'll charge it to your room and it'll show up on the company receipt." Kaoru had learned that lesson the hard way when she'd once been too lazy to go downstairs to buy tampons.

Enishi sits up and dabs the drying mess on his stomach with his discarded underwear. "There's a convenience store across the street. I can get some there." He looks at Kaoru out of the side of his eye. "Why don't you come with me? We could use a little time to recover anyway. And you might want - I don't know, a toothbrush or something -"

"Sure," Kaoru agrees. Somehow, his suggestion that she might need something to be more comfortable here warms her heart.

They dress quickly, Kaoru getting back into her same dress and Enishi putting on a sleeveless navy workout shirt and track pants, and they head outside into the humid night.

As they stand at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change, Enishi tugs her ponytail. "Your hair is a mess," he teases.

"So is yours," Kaoru laughs, and she dares to put her wrist in the crook of his elbow. Being with him like this in public feels so light, so fun, so freeing. She might have noticed sooner if the visions hadn't been getting in her way.

As they cross the street, Enishi winks at her. "The summit lasts for three more days. Should I buy a pack of forty?" he jokes.

At least, Kaoru _thinks_ he is joking. "That's ambitious, even for you. Besides, we have to fit in work somewhere."

Enishi laughs and slings his arm around her shoulder as they approach the store entrance. "I'm an ambitious man. Once I make plans, no one can convince me to change course -"

Kaoru is chuckling into her hand when she realizes that Enishi has frozen at her side. She glances up at his face to see his mouth hanging agape and his eyes wild with horror.

"Oh - it is - _you_." Kaoru hears a familiar woman's voice, and she whips her head around to see that Tomoe stands before them, her frame backlit by the convenience store's fluorescent lights. Her eyes glisten and a small paper medication bag slips from her hand. Kenshin stands beside his wife, looking between her and Enishi with a concerned, confused expression.

"You're - you're dead. You're not real," Enishi whispers to Tomoe.

"Your hair is white," Tomoe responds, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"What's going on?" Kenshin asks quietly. He steps in front of Tomoe protectively and glances at Kaoru, obviously hoping for an explanation.

"Enishi. It's OK," Kaoru says, her heart leaping into her throat as she tugs at his arm. "If you're seeing things again -"

She doesn't have the chance to finish her sentence. Enishi bolts from her grasp and sprints, uncontrolled and clutching at his face, toward the city center.

Tomoe takes off in the opposite direction, back toward the hotels.

"What the - Tomoe!" Kenshin calls desperately. He gives Kaoru a terrified look before running after his wife.

The first fireworks explode overhead, and the claps and shouts of partygoers rise up across the island.

Kaoru looks in the direction that Enishi ran and vows to find him. But before she can take another step - _A voice screams for revenge. A woman cries as a man chokes her. The sun beats down as swords slice through the air . . ._

* * *

[to be continued]

A/N: Whew, I covered a lot of ground in that chapter. Two more coming soon-ish. Hope you enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

_A terrified woman suffocates as two swordsmen battle for her life. A lean warrior grimaces as blood spreads across his torso. A smiling teenager slams a knife into a politician's forehead._

 _::Come back. I'll help you::_ Kaoru texts Enishi. _A hooded figure slices men apart with razor wires._

Enishi doesn't respond.

Kaoru shoves her phone back into her purse. Her stomach churns as she imagines Enishi staggering through Xinyue City as the dead woman in the snow infects his mind.

As she stumbles along block after block in Xinyue's tourist district, she peeks into the doorways of bars and restaurants, hoping to catch a glimpse of silver hair. _A girl's black braid whips away from a scythe-wielding woman. A boy struggles to his feet, and a giant slams him back into the dirt._

"Where did you go, you stupid idiot?" Kaoru curses as she passes a group of stylish women smoking outside of a nightclub.

One of the women says something in a language Kaoru doesn't understand, and the others titter. _"During the Bakamatsu, a punch like that would get you killed," says a slick-haired police officer to an injured thug gasping for breath._ Kaoru rubs her bare shoulders and wishes that she wore street clothes instead of this wrinkled beach dress.

She takes a few steps down a side street, but a knot of hollow-cheeked men glare at her intrusion, so she backs away and hurries over to a well-lit minibus stop on the ring road. _A blank-eyed woman slumps against a wall, a blade protruding from her heart._

Kaoru's phone buzzes and she fishes it out of her purse, nearly dropping it in her haste to see Enishi's answer. But the message is not from him. It's from Kenshin.

 _::Tomoe didn't return to our room::_ it reads. _::Meet me in the lobby and let's talk.::_

 _::See you in 5::_ Kaoru types.

She looks up at the sky. The city lights blot out the stars, so she trains her mind on the pale crescent of the moon. She takes a deep breath and walks unsteadily back to her hotel.

As Kaoru passes through the entrance, her eyes adjust to the bright interior. The night clerk greets her with a forced smile, but the door guard simply ignores her.

Kenshin sits on the edge of a studded leather chair near the concierge desk. His short-sleeved button down and khakis, freshly ironed earlier in the evening, are now rumpled and sweat stained. Dark circles ring his violet eyes. "Are you alright?" he asks Kaoru quietly as he pats the matching chair beside him.

Kaoru's heart floods with pity. "Not really," she admits. _"The strong survive, and the weak die," a man's voice rumbles as ash rains over a battlefield._ "But I'm here."

Kenshin nods distractedly. "That man you were with -" he pauses, and Kaoru imagines that he is trying to tamp down the plume of judgment infusing his words. "He was at the Smuggler's House reception last night, when Tomoe fell ill."

 _A man howls in misery under the burning tropical sun._ "His name is Enishi Yukishiro. He's a principal at Jinchuu Holdings." Kaoru closes her eyes and swallows. "I met him last year when you assigned me to the Kyoto accounts."

"Is he your - ?" Kenshin makes a vague waving gesture, and his voice trails off.

"Uhm - sort of." Kaoru winces. She doesn't want to guess what Kenshin must think. "Enishi has some stuff going on," she tries to explain. "Maybe when he saw Tomoe it reminded him of some of that - uh, stuff. I'm certain that he didn't mean to harm her."

Kenshin says nothing. He stares at his hands and clenches them into fists. Finally, he speaks so quietly that Kaoru must lean close to hear him. "When I met Tomoe, she also had some - some issues. She said she had nightmares, but that they would come at any time of day or night, no matter where she was or what she was doing. When I asked her to tell me what she saw, she just shook her head and her eyes filled with tears. But the terrible images would leave her alone for a while, when we - spent time together." Kenshin's cheeks flush pink.

Kaoru knows exactly how Kenshin and Tomoe spent time together to get rid of the unwanted images. Her own face blooms with heat.

Kenshin clears his throat. "After our wedding I begged her to seek help. But the doctors and counselors did nothing for her."

Kaoru nods as she thinks of the medicine bottles lining Enishi's windowpane and the emergency sleeping pills she keeps hidden in her bathroom cabinet back in Tokyo.

"Recently she tried some, um, non-traditional healers," Kenshin continues. "They are expensive and strange, but they give her peace. She has been so happy and healthy. Or she was, until we came to this island." He meets Kaoru's eyes, and thousand questions pass across his face.

 _A dark haired woman lies in her futon and stares up at the ceiling beams. Worried voices carry from the other side of the shoji screen._ Kaoru licks her dry lips. "I don't know how Enishi and Tomoe are connected. But I understand something of what they see." It's the closest she's ever come to admitting her own problems to anyone other than Enishi, and she shivers. "Maybe you understand, too."

Kenshin looks down, and his long red hair falls into his face. "I've had daydreams, sure. Sometimes a pleasant imagining of another life, here and there." His eyebrows furrow as he seems to retreat into his memories.

"You're lucky, then," Kaoru replies, envy lacing her tone. "Your mind is at peace."

"Not right now," Kenshin counters. His voice crackles as he adds, "Please, Kaoru, help me find my wife."

The words bruise Kaoru's heart. "Of course, Kenshin," she says, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth. "I would do anything for you."

Kenshin reaches over and pats her shoulder. "And I would do anything for you. And your friend Enishi."

Kaoru swallows the lump in her throat. _A woman leans on the rail of an ornate balustrade. She gazes across a cerulean bay, waiting for a ship that never arrives. A silver haired man watches her from his seat under a familiar window._

Confusion must be written across her face, because Kenshin asks, "What's wrong?"

Kaoru closes her eyes, and for once she focuses on the vision instead of pushing it away. _The balustrade. The bay. The window._ "I think I know where to find Enishi. Perhaps Tomoe, too."

Kenshin stands and offers Kaoru his hand. "Then let's start there."

* * *

The Smuggler's House gleams like a beacon on the bluff, its fresh white paint shining bright in the moonlight as high rise apartments loom in the distance. But tonight there are no partygoers spilling out into the yard, no servers balancing drink trays, no taxis shuttling in honored guests. The property is locked up, and the video camera LEDs blink red to warn would-be criminals away from Xinyue's prized historic site.

But security systems rarely discourage Enishi, as Kaoru knows from experience. She gazes toward the darkened front porch and makes out a figure slumped on a bench.

"Maybe you should wait here," Kaoru murmurs to Kenshin. _"Why won't you smile for me?" a man's voice echoes in the night._ "It might be better if I approach him alone."

Kenshin narrows his eyes and sets his jaw. "Are you sure?"

 _"You have already robbed me of the only thing I ever wanted to protect!" a man screams across the beach._ "I'm sure," Kaoru answers. "I think I have to be the one to bring him back."

Kenshin nods and squeezes Kaoru's wrist. "I'll search the grounds for Tomoe." He steps onto the gravel path leading to the gardens and disappears behind a hedge.

With Kenshin gone, Kaoru treads up the sidewalk and halts at the porch stairs. Even in the low light, she can make out Enishi's broad shoulders and glinting spectacle lenses. "It's me," she calls softly into the darkness.

"Stay away," Enishi croaks. _"Give up," whispers a man against the scent of ether._

"Never," Kaoru responds to Enishi, and to that other voice as well. She takes one step up, then another.

"Don't. Please," Enishi pleads. A car drives past and the headlights illuminate his reddened eyes and blotchy skin. "I tried to kill _you_. My hand was crushing your neck. Right up there!" he jabs his finger in the direction of the balcony.

 _A man chokes a woman as he screams of revenge._ Kaoru trembles even as she forces herself to take another step toward him. "That wasn't me. Or you," she says, but she glances up at the familiar railing and tastes burnt metal.

"These aren't just visions, Kaoru. Somewhere, I did those disgusting things."

"That's not true," Kaoru insists even as she brushes her hand against her throat, and she is no longer sure whether she is recalling the feel of Enishi's soft lips there, or of his clenching fingers.

"It _is_. I never connected the visions to our lives until I saw -" he coughs and shudders.

Kaoru summons all of her willpower to place her hand on Enishi's shoulder, but he shrinks from her touch. So instead, she perches on the other side of the bench, as far away from him as she can be without falling off the edge. "Alright. You think my boss's wife is the bloody woman in the visions. But obviously it's not her, Enishi. Tomoe is alive, and she's fine." Kaoru repeats the statement in her head and wishes she believed it. "And I know you would never hurt me."

Enishi ignores her words. "When I see that woman lying in the snow, like I do now, it's as if I'm watching my own death, over and over."

Kaoru inches her hand across the seat until her fingers brush Enishi's leg, and this time he doesn't flinch, but his body quivers at her touch.

"If I watched her die - if I tried to choke you - if those things happened, then everything else I've ever seen has happened, too." Enishi pulls off his spectacles and rubs his eyes with the back of his hand. "Kaoru, I killed so many people."

"You did," says a woman's voice from out in the yard.

Kaoru whips her head up and sees Tomoe standing on the sidewalk, her long skirts fluttering in the night breeze. Her pale face shines in the moonlight. Kenshin stands behind his wife, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.

Kaoru sinks her nails into Enishi's thigh, as if that could keep him from running again. His muscles tense under her palm, but he doesn't rise.

"Did I kill Kaoru?" Enishi asks Tomoe.

Kaoru swallows the bile rising in her throat.

"No. You saved her," Tomoe answers. _A shot rings out, and seabirds scream in protest. A man cries on his knees in the sand._

"And you?" he rasps. "Did I kill you?"

"You saved me, too, in a way," Tomoe replies. She wipes a tear from her cheek, and Kenshin gives her a handkerchief, which she accepts gracefully. "But you suffered."

"I still suffer," Enishi snarls, and he clutches Kaoru's hand, crushing her knuckles. "So does Kaoru."

"So do I, but not as I once did." Tomoe gazes down at the ground. "Please come to me, Enishi," she beckons calmly, maternally. "And you too, Kaoru. We must help one another."

* * *

From across the street, Kaoru watches Tomoe and Enishi, their silhouettes black against the glittering bay. They sit together on the seawall no more than a handspan apart, with their backs to the night market. They seem lost in their own world.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kaoru asks Kenshin around a mouthful of fried squid.

"The life they shared," Kenshin says with a shrug. He slurps milky tea from a wide straw and pushes a polystyrene cup of dipping sauce across the grimy tabletop. "Do you want me to ask for more chili paste?" He jerks his chin in the direction of the seafood cart.

Kaoru shakes her head. _"If you don't learn to cook, you'll never catch a husband!" shouts a bratty boy across the yard._ "No need. Everything's great. Midnight snacks always taste best after an emotional breakdown."

Kenshin smiles politely even though Kaoru isn't making a joke. "You're sure Tomoe didn't upset you?"

 _A time-worn diary passes from one pair of hands to another._ "Not really. That stuff she said about how the four of us are linked through time - it might have sounded weird to somebody else, but for me, things started making more sense than they have in years." Kaoru takes a sip of the hot coffee she purchased for Enishi, and she doesn't mention how she is still unsettled by Enishi's insistence that his past self killed a bunch of people. "Tomoe never told you any of this before tonight?"

"I don't think she knew before tonight, although her healers must have been leading her toward that realization." He squirts sesame oil onto a skewered fish. _Chrysanthemums bloom beside a newly-cleaned grave marker._ "But when she saw Enishi here, all grown up, some of it must have come back to her." As Kenshin bites into the blackened filet, he looks toward his wife again.

Kaoru follows Kenshin's gaze. Her stomach puckers as she watches Tomoe take Enishi's hand.

"You and Enishi never suspected that sort of connection with each other?" Kenshin's voice interrupts Kaoru's jealous thoughts.

 _A woman thrusts a tray of food onto a table. "If you cook for one, you might as well cook for two. So eat up!"_ "Some of our visions are similar, but I never imagined they might actually be shared memories." She pops some sweet sticky rice into her mouth and glances down at the greasy-spotted sack of doughnut holes. "Should we bring them their food?"

"Give them a little more time." Kenshin wipes his mouth with a wad of paper napkins. "Besides, Tomoe said that all four of us are connected. So you and I have a past, too, even if I don't remember any of it. Do you have any ideas about the two of us?"

 _A couple walks across a bridge at sunset. "I'm home," the man says to the woman with a serene smile on his face._ Kaoru takes another sip of coffee. "I don't know. But whatever past we shared, I am glad I can count on our friendship now."

Kenshin gives her a long look that she can't quite read. "I feel the same way."

They lapse into silence and watch as groups of teenagers, off-shift cab drivers, and other night owls line up at the food stalls to fill their bellies before going home. Kaoru wonders whether any of them have their own connections across time, whether they fear that they are losing their minds as she once did, whether they have found peace.

A shadow falls across the table, and Kaoru looks up to see that Tomoe and Enishi have returned. Tomoe's been crying again, but somehow her tear stained cheeks just add to her beauty. Enishi, though, looks like he's been hit by a delivery truck.

Kenshin rises and offers his wife a sweet bun. To Kaoru's surprise, Tomoe takes a hearty chomp and smiles shyly at Enishi as she brushes the crumbs from her lips.

"Are you ready to go back to our room?" Kenshin asks Tomoe. "I know there is much more to discuss, but it's so late, and surely you need to rest."

Enishi starts to protest, but Tomoe silences him with a glance. "Kenshin is right. We can't possibly unlock all the mysteries of our past while we're still on the island, but I hope you will join me and my healers when we return to Tokyo."

"Of course," Enishi agrees fervently. The earnest expression on his puffy face makes Kaoru grind her teeth. Just what was Tomoe to Enishi in that past life? What are they to one another, now?

"I hope you'll come too, Kaoru," Tomoe adds. _A resplendent woman cackles in the face of her tomboyish friend's resentment._

Kenshin slides his eyes over to Kaoru. "Fortunately we don't have any morning meetings. Kaoru, will I see you at the lunchtime plenary session tomorrow?"

Kaoru glares at Enishi as she responds. "Of course."

Tomoe reaches up and pats Enishi's cheek. He looks giddy, tipsy. Tomoe returns his smile. "Now that we've found each other, we will finally ease the suffering in this life." She places her hand in Kenshin's, and after saying their goodbyes, the married couple walks in the direction of the path back to the hotels.

Kaoru and Enishi watch in silence as Tomoe and Kenshin disappear into the crowd. _"I promise I'll return," a man tells his beloved._

Enishi clears his throat. "You have that coffee I asked for?"

"After all that?" Kaoru growls. She should throw the drink in his face. "That's all you have to say to me?"

"No. That's not all." Enishi turns to her and traces his fingertips down her bare arms. His skin appears sallow under the glare of the streetlamp. "Tomoe still isn't sure how we were connected in that other life, or lives. She knows something about the violence I committed -"

"That past version of you," Kaoru corrects him.

"Right," Enishi says uncertainly. "She says that other version of me atoned for what I did, as best I could, eventually. And she thinks she might have been my mother or something. But we have many shared memories, and we know we're special to each other."

"Oh." Kaoru bites her lip and looks down at her sandals. She grew to accept that Tomoe would always come first for Kenshin, but she is pained to observe how Enishi already cares for the woman he just met.

"Tomoe and I are going to be friends, Kaoru."

Kaoru laughs mirthlessly. "Friends. That's what you and I are, right?"

Enishi recoils. "Not like that! Didn't you hear me say she was probably my _mom_?"

"I don't know, the way you were talking about her -"

He interrupts her with a kiss.

She eases into his touch, and the visions recede into the depths of her mind.

Finally, Enishi breaks away and gently takes her face in his hands. "Understand this, Kaoru," he murmurs as he touches his nose to hers, "how I see Tomoe is nothing like how I see you."

"Good," Kaoru mumbles as Enishi's words echo in her mind. "Take me back to the hotel."

* * *

Kaoru hardly ever notices the ringing in her ears back in Tokyo, but the buzz fills her mind on this mystical island, in this quiet room, with only the sound of Enishi's breath to break the silence.

She can't ever remember feeling so tired. Earlier, she possessed enough strength to buy condoms at a newsstand and drag Enishi back to the room and strip off her clothes. Even so, as she lays on the bed with Enishi and presses her face against his neck, she's too rattled to sleep.

As the black sky lightens to indigo, Enishi takes a ragged breath. "I tried to get rid of the visions with other women, but being with them never helped." The bed creaks as he pulls Kaoru close.

Kaoru exhales into his chest, but the jealousy she expects to wash over her never arrives. "It doesn't matter." After all, she did the same thing enough times. She sweated through a weekend with Sanosuke in his shabby studio before he got back together with his girlfriend; she shared a slobbery kiss with a blue-eyed doctoral candidate during an Akabeko happy hour; she spent a smoky afternoon in a love hotel with Professor Hajime after an alumni brunch. None of those men ever helped banish her visions, either, and none of them kept her from relying on Enishi's touch for relief.

"I was afraid of depending on you, since you - since you loved Kenshin so much." Gently Enishi rolls Kaoru's body onto his.

She sighs and lets those memories drift away. "I'm glad we're together now."

"Yes," he says simply.

Kaoru brushes her lips against his, then parts her thighs and straddles his legs. She sits upright, her muscles aching as she does so, and picks up a condom on the bedside table. As she fumbles with the wrapper, Enishi takes it out of her hands and opens it and unrolls it onto himself.

Although she is too tired to talk to him, she gazes down his face in the pre-dawn light. His skin is mottled, and his eyes are ringed black, but the corners of his wide mouth are quirked upward with the hint of an exhausted smile. He squeezes her hips in a wordless invitation.

With one smooth motion, Kaoru slides onto him. Enishi takes a ragged breath under her and she moves, so slowly, focusing solely on the place where they are joined. It feels as if they've done this together a thousand times before, and maybe have, on other strands of time.

Afterwards, Kaoru lays on her side and stares out the window while she listens to Enishi clean himself up. The sky is melting from slate into sapphire, and the clouds sparkle with the first embers of sunlight.

"Kaoru," Enishi whispers into her ear as he rolls over and envelopes her in his arms.

"Yeah?" she says through a yawn.

"Even if the visions of the past never end, I want to spend my time in this life with you."

Kaoru freezes against his body for just a moment, then melts into his touch. She smiles to herself and reaches back to stroke his face. "I feel the same way."

* * *

[to be continued...one more chapter]

A/N 1: I don't usually beg for comments - I figure you don't owe it to me as a reader - but this story has wrestled its way out of my heart after many years, and I would love, love, love to hear if you liked it or found it interesting or weird or whatever! Thank you!

A/N 2: Originally I was going to have Kaoru fail to get rid of the visions with just Sano and Aoshi, but then I thought . . . why not Saitou? As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate his severity as having a certain slightly less obvious sex appeal that is just as strong as the very clear attractiveness those bishounen young guys provide :), and maybe a twentysomething Kaoru would understand too, haha.

A/N 3: I recycled one of Enishi's dialogue lines from the Meiji version of this, iTiger's Den/i, but definitely not the context ("Understand this, Kaoru...how I see Tomoe is nothing like how I see you.")...Unlike the rest of the callbacks, that one isn't strictly canon, but...I liked being able to connect it to my previous fic :):):)


	4. Chapter 4

_Arousal blooms across Kaoru's skin as Enishi's teeth graze her neck. His spectacles glint in the light of the Smuggler's House chandeliers._

"Kaoru." Kenshin pats her wrist gently and pulls her from her daydreams. "Enishi's arrived."

Kaoru squints against the morning sunlight past her boss-slash-mentor-slash-friend-slash-previous life companion, toward the French doors, out of which her boyfriend is sauntering onto the balcony. "Finally. That man takes forever to get ready."

Kenshin smiles with mischief dancing in his eyes. "He and Tomoe share many qualities."

"And hair products," Kaoru mutters.

"And memories," Enishi adds as he sidles up beside Kaoru, holding a coffee mug in one hand and a mimosa in the other. He nods at Kenshin in a cursory greeting. "Tomoe and I are videochatting with Hiko this afternoon. That mess up your schedule?"

"Not at all. Kaoru and I only have two meetings," Kenshin replies. He places his hand on Enishi's shoulder, and Enishi flinches. "I'm proud of the progress you and Tomoe have made. Do what you must to stay in contact with the healers, even when we're not in Tokyo." Looking back to Kaoru, he adds, "I see one of our clients by the waffle bar. I'll meet you at the roundtable discussion after lunch."

Enishi watches Kenshin leave, an unsettled expression crossing his face. Then he hands Kaoru the mimosa and stares out at the bay. "Did I interrupt something?"

Kaoru sips the drink. There's too much champagne and not enough orange juice for how early this networking event has been scheduled. She sets the glass down and pushes it away. _Beneath the canopy of trees, Enishi presses his body to hers and nuzzles the sensitive spot behind her ear._

"Kaoru?" Enishi asks with concern threading his voice. "You seeing things again?"

"No, not like that." She leans an elbow against the balcony rail and studies profile. "I was just remembering last year's summit."

Enishi smirks and slurps his coffee. "One of the good parts, I hope."

 _His tongue traces her collarbone._ "Yeah."

As Enishi leans down beside her, his suit jacket brushes against her blouse sleeve. "We could reenact whatever you're remembering."

Kaoru looks back over her shoulder, toward the historic building. Dignitaries, developers, and government officials hover around the brunch buffet stations and shovel food into their faces between exchanging business cards. None of them are paying attention to the two consultants standing too close together. "Last night wasn't enough?"

Enishi stares at her over the top of his spectacles. "It's never enough," he says, his voice dipping into that scary sexy octave he saves just for her.

In spite of the ocean breeze, Kaoru feels her face getting warm. "Don't talk like that, not when I can't do anything about it," she stammers.

"I did last year, right in this same place," he counters as he continues to ogle her. "It worked out alright."

"You must have freaked out some summit organizer. If you haven't noticed, they changed this thing from a cocktail hour to a breakfast event."

"Nobody noticed, then or now. I'm the subtlest guy here."

"You're as subtle as a jackhammer."

"Say that to me in bed." He sounds as if he might actually throw her over his shoulder and find some guest room in this mansion and try to convince her to honor the request immediately.

It's too intense for nine in the morning. Kaoru laughs and elbows Enishi in the ribs. "So you and Tomoe have a session this afternoon?"

"Yeah." He takes another sip. "You can join if you want, even though it's been a while."

Kaoru hasn't attended a healing session in months, not since an auburn haired, blue eyed toddler stumbled through her visions and called her "mama". Kenshin stopped attending around the same time, claiming that he had found peace in this life and the last, and that it was time for him to move forward. She's not sure whether she believes what her boss says, but for her own part, she's meditated enough in Hiko's darkened ceremonial room for a while. "Not this time," she says finally.

Enishi knocks back the last of his coffee. "I know it's weird. But it's helping me."

"I know. I think -" she breaks off. She ignores the voices of the networking summit-goers behind her and focuses on the sound of the waves breaking against the beach below. She recalls the vision of that other past-life-Enishi standing down there, his arm in a sling, his feet planted in the sand. "I think I have what I need here, for now. I have control of the visions most of the time. And I have you." She takes his hand. "It's okay if you haven't gotten there yet. If you and Tomoe need to keep going together."

"We need to." He grimaces.

"That's fine. I want you to be happy."

"I'm getting there," he says, squeezing her fingers and giving her a weak smile. "With you."

Kaoru's phone buzzes in her purse. She retrieves it and glances at the screen. "I better go. My panel starts in twenty minutes."

Enishi nods and drops her hand. "I'll walk you out."

He leads her out of the crowd and back through the French doors and onto the empty second floor landing, then walks her past the grand staircase and heads straight for the cramped, unoccupied elevator alcove.

"I don't mind taking the stairs. I have my low heels on," Kaoru says.

"No, it's not that. I just want -" He looks around, clearly making sure that they are still alone, then leans down and brushes his lips against her cheek. "I love you," he says, so quietly she almost misses it.

"Wait," Kaoru says as she reaches up and grabs Enishi's lapels. She pulls him down to her and smashes her mouth against his. When she finally lets him up for air, his spectacles are askew, his face is flushed, and his mouth is smeared with lipstick. "Better," she says, grinning as she slams the call button with her fist.

As the elevator doors clunk open and they walk inside, Kaoru takes Enishi's hand again. "I love you too."

* * *

A/N: In case this is "inspirational" to anyone...I started attempting to write these particular 2 part fics in December 2013. I really tried hard, but I couldn't quite express what I wanted. I couldn't quite see what the whole story should look like. I left it alone for about 3 years. I wrote 200,000 words of Game of Thrones fanfic and learned much more about telling stories. Then another year went by and I took down both Tiger's Den and TD: Restoration from FFN and AO3. I wrote another 100,000 words for Game of Thrones. These two stories nudged at my brain, but I just let them sit. I tried to write an original novel for a year and didn't get very far. Still these stories flowed through my mind.

Finally I looked at Tiger's Den and retooled it, cutting about 10,000 words in the process. After that, I felt I finally possessed the skill level I wanted to tell this part. I stripped down the extraneous plotlines, and I polished up the characters. I started with the parts I was excited to write instead of spending 15,000 words on buildup. After all that, I think I've mostly managed to convey what I couldn't quite get at when I started.

I include this author's note here because of my years of ambivalence about my original work attempts. I want to remind myself (and anyone else who needs to hear this) that with every piece I complete, I get closer to being able to extract the thing inside of me - even if I'm not there yet. That idea made me feel kinda happy, so I thought I'd share it with you, in case you are also a writer and you're feeling down about the distance between what you imagine and what's coming out on the page.

Thank you for reading this. I truly appreciate your clicks, kudos, and especially (especially!) your comments.


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